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Classical music for a modern age” is a video series exploring the evolving landscape of the “new classical” genre, which flourishes on the borderland where classical meets pop, experimental and multimedia. It takes place in new spaces in front of younger, less stereotypical audiences, and springs from an unlikely alliance of old-style classical musicians with laptop players, producers and video artists. Over four parts, I talk to some of the musicians involved in this revolution and ask: is it its own entirely new genre and is it a boon or a threat to the old classical tradition?

Classical music has had a “modernist wing” for at least a century. The pioneering orchestra The London Sinfonietta specialises in it, and thanks to them audiences have come to accept modern music and even love it. But now the Sinfonietta is venturing much further left-field. I watch them rehearse a wild new piece involving video and a game-show host, and talk to its composer along with the Artistic Director of the Sinfonietta, to find out what classical music might look like in the next 20 years.